Seabrook Island Natural History Group (SINHG) members have ventured far and wide these past two months during SINHG’s spring series of thirty-four learning adventures. Close to home at the beach, members met with marine geologist Leslie Sauter to discuss the dynamic nature of our three miles of coastline and the importance of periodic remodeling of Captain Sam’s Spit. A bit further afield downtown, members explored the heritage of Charleston’s famous Grimke Sisters, feminists and early nineteenth century abolitionists who fought for the eradication of slavery and women’s rights. Later in April, members communed with goats, hogs, mules, cows and chickens at The Goatery At Kiawah River to learn about the growing Community Sustainable Agriculture movement. SINHG spring trips continue through mid-May and will resume in September.
There’s an amusing story about one of the South’s most emblematic sights, one so common that Lowcountry residents hardly notice it. During the Spanish – French exploration and rivalry for control of Lowcountry ports in the 17th century, French explorers asked their Native American guides about the scraggly growths dangling from live oaks and bald cypresses. Their guides’ name for it translated as “tree hair”, prompting the French to think of the ragged beards many of their Spanish rivals sported and leading them to name the stuff “barbe espagnol”. The Spanish, on the other hand, preferred to call it “cabello francés”; but it was the French explorers’ name that stuck and that, over the centuries, morphed into Spanish Moss.
To read more about this interesting plant, click here to access the complete article on the Seabrook Island Natural History Group (SINHG) website.
Explore the ecology, history and culture of the Carolina Lowcountry with SINHG. For information visit sinhg.org.
SINHG members have been roaming far and wide as the spring season takes hold, with more than thirty SINHG Trips on the schedule.
Over twenty members kicked off the season with a rousing evening of Music Bingo at The Woodruff on Johns Island, while others traveled downtown to the Black Fedora Comedy Mystery Theater for a whodunit that saw SINHG President Lynn Baker cast in the role of Tarzan.
On downtown walking tours, members learned of Charleston’s checkered pirate past and the city’s related lively pub life, including stops at three French Quarter pubs as part of the “five Ps” of the city’s colorful history – pints, pubs, prostitutes, pirates and politics. And members braved chilly early spring weather for a kayak tour along Shem Creek’s Crab Bank, just in time before the Bank and its bird sanctuary closed for the migration season.
SINHG’s spring trips for members continue through early May. To learn about membership, visit sinhg.org.
The national bird – that’s what Ben Franklin famously thought the turkey should be. It was, he wrote, “a much more respectable bird” than the eagle, which he considered to be “a rank coward”. He thought the turkey to be “a true original native of America, and a bird of courage” that would willingly attack any grenadier of the British Guards who dared to invade his farm.
He was correct in thinking that the tom turkey would aggressively protect itself, as many a stroller or golfer who has come too close to one can attest. But he was wrong in thinking that turkeys were native to the United States, although today they can be found in every state except Alaska. They were first encountered by 16th-century European explorers arriving in Mexico, where turkeys had been bred for centuries, making it one of only two birds native to the Americas (the other being the Muscovy duck). Imported to Europe and the Middle East, the birds reminded traders of the African guinea fowl that came to them along trade routes passing through Turkey, and thus came to be called “Turkey birds.”
To read more about our almost national bird – the turkey – as well as other articles from SINHG, click here.
Seabrook Island Natural History Group is one of the island’s oldest and largest special interest groups dedicated to exploring the ecology, history, and culture of the Carolina Lowcountry. For more information about SINHG, click here.
-Submitted by Seabrook Island Natural History Group
(Image credits: Seabrook Island Natural History Group)
Seabrook Island Natural History Group (SINHG) had to postpone their program “Lost Charleston” due to Tropical Storm Nicole. It is now rescheduled for Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 7:00 pm at The Lake House.
The presentation will explore “Lost Charleston” with author Leigh Handal, whose book of the same title was published in 2019. It will recall the many mansions, hotels, markets, and restaurants that disappeared during much of the 20th century when the city reinvented itself as a tourist destination after the devastations of the Civil War and natural disasters such as the 1886 earthquake.
For more information about the program, click here. To make reservations, visit the SINHG website.
If you already registered for the canceled November 10 date, you do not need to re-register.
The final SINHG (Seabrook Island Natural History Group) Evening Program of the fall season will take place at The Lake House, on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at 7:00 pm. The presentation will explore “Lost Charleston” with author Leigh Handal, whose book of the same title was published in 2019. It will recall the many mansions, hotels, markets, and restaurants that disappeared during much of the 20th century when the city reinvented itself as a tourist destination after the devastations of the Civil War and natural disasters such as the 1886 earthquake.
Handal has also co-authored the training manual used by the city’s licensed tour guides and is active in the preservation campaign for the St. James Goose Creek Chapel of Ease Historical Site. Professionally, Handal worked for many years in public relations and has served as the local chapter president of the Public Relations Society of America. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and The College of Charleston, for which she served as president of the college’s Alumni Association.
SINHG Evening Programs are open to all Seabrook Island residents and guests. There is a $5 fee for non SINHG members. To preregister visit, please click here.
Seabrook Island Natural History Group explores the ecology, history, and culture of the Carolina Lowcountry. Come explore with us! For more information about SINHG, please go to sinhg.org.
Members of the Seabrook Island Natural History Group (SINHG) traveled all over the Lowcountry on October’s SINHG Trip schedule.
During a tour of The Citadel, members learned the importance of the treasured Citadel Ring, bestowed at the beginning of each cadet’s Senior year (and that newly-shaved freshman are called “nobs”).
Fifteen members took to Horseshoe Creek via kayak spotting the creek’s abundant birdlife, with sightings of the Pileated Woodpecker, while a dozen SINHG members viewed downtown through the lens of the city’s Charleston Renaissance of the early 20th century.
Another tour focused on the South of Broad and French Quarter neighborhoods, culminating in a delicious lunch at the historic State Street dining room, based on recipes from the city’s 19th century cookbooks.
Two member groups enjoyed a tour of Charleston Harbor and the Intercoastal Waterway aboard the 24-foot SS Charleston, taking in along the way Shem Creek, the iconic Ravenel Bridge and Fort Sumter.
October’s trips concluded with an Easy Rider Bike tour through Old Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island.
SINHG Trips for members will continue through early December. To learn more about SINHG Trips and membership, visit sinhg.org.
While much attention is justly focused on the endangered, seafaring loggerhead turtle population that nests here every summer, a less threatened cousin that spends all its time on the island also faces threats from habitat loss and human activity. The Carolina diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin centrata), with distinctive circular markings on its carapace, inhabits the brackish waters of our salt marshes and tidal creeks, feeding on crabs, snails, fish, oysters, and mussels. It’s the only turtle species known to prefer brackish water. Its attraction to crab pots is one threat, sometimes trapping and drowning the animal. Encounters with motorized boats are another potential cause of mortality. Habitat loss from warming and rising water levels, or from human development along estuaries and inlets, is an increasing challenge for diamondbacks, which are found all along the Atlantic coast from Cape Hatteras to Florida. Although not considered endangered, terrapins are an important indicator species for water quality, with populations all along the coast monitored regularly.
The term “terrapin” is applied to land-based turtles, as opposed to marine species like the loggerhead. Carolina terrapins are active nearly all year round, living in burrows dug in mudflats and hibernating there during colder months. Its shell ranges from gray to light green or brown and is marked by concentric growth rings that indicate age, which can be measured in decades. One male specimen found on Kiawah had originally been tagged in the 1980s and was found still active and healthy twenty-five years later.
Like their seagoing relations, diamondback females lay their eggs, starting in late spring, in nests dug in sandy banks above the high tide line, which may bring females looking for nesting sites disastrously in contact with vehicular traffic along roads built too close to the water. The nests are often raided by raccoons, foxes, and seagulls.
But the good news is that Carolina terrapins have recovered from near-extinction in the early twentieth century when their pale yellow meat was considered a delicacy. They were eagerly hunted to supply restaurants and fish markets, bringing high prices that climbed even higher as it became more difficult finding them by digging out of their hibernation burrows. Today, although legally harvestable, they’re thankfully no longer considered suitable for the dining table and no commercial hunting permits have been issued by South Carolina for many years, allowing populations to rebound.
Seabrook Island Natural History Group is one of the island’s oldest and largest special interest groups dedicated to exploring the ecology, history, and culture of the Carolina Lowcountry. For more information about SINHG, click here.
-Submitted by Seabrook Island Natural History Group
The final SINHG (Seabrook Island Natural History Group) Evening Program of the fall season will take place at The Lake House, on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at 7:00 pm. The presentation will explore “Lost Charleston” with author Leigh Handal, whose book of the same title was published in 2019. It will recall the many mansions, hotels, markets, and restaurants that disappeared during much of the 20th century when the city reinvented itself as a tourist destination after the devastations of the Civil War and natural disasters such as the 1886 earthquake.
Handal has also co-authored the training manual used by the city’s licensed tour guides and is active in the preservation campaign for the St. James Goose Creek Chapel of Ease Historical Site. Professionally, Handal worked for many years in public relations and has served as the local chapter president of the Public Relations Society of America. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and The College of Charleston, for which she served as president of the college’s Alumni Association.
SINHG Evening Programs are open to all Seabrook Island residents and guests. There is a $5 fee for non SINHG members. To preregister visit, please click here.
Seabrook Island Natural History Group explores the ecology, history, and culture of the Carolina Lowcountry. Come explore with us! For more information about SINHG, please go to sinhg.org.
Members of the Seabrook Island Natural History Group (SINHG) have taken to the road for the group’s autumn series of SINHG Trips exploring the history, ecology and culture of the Lowcountry. Members walked downtown’s historic Tradd Street to learn about the “Angel Of Tradd”, Susan Pringle Frost, whose preservation efforts led to Charleston’s first designated historic district and established awareness of the city’s rich architectural heritage. The city’s troubled ties with the Caribbean slave trade was the focus of another downtown tour, particularly ties with Barbados, from which many enslaved workers were imported. Civil War history came to life for another group of members at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on the Cooper River, where the group’s private tour of the H.L. Hunley Confederate submarine’s restoration explored the many mysteries surrounding the submarine’s fate waiting to be solved. A more contemporary perspective emerged during a group tour of Charleston’s Channel 2 hosted by weathercaster Rob Fowler, who guided the group through the station’s studios and news gathering infrastructure. SINHG Trips continue through mid-December. To learn more about SINHG membership, visit sinhg.org.
Slots are filling quickly for the Seabrook Island Natural History Group’s schedule of SINHG Trips for the fall season. A third of the 37 trips offered are new this year for SINHG members, including:
Tours of surrounding harbors and historic districts on Easy Rider bikes
Explorations, on foot, of key components of Charleston history, from ties to the Caribbean islands to the fight for women’s and civil rights
A tour of The Citadel campus
A biking tour of Kiawah’s three nature observation towers
Formerly retired trips are back on the list, too, including:
A private tour and observation of continuing restoration efforts of the H.L. Hunley Civil War-era submarine
Walking tours of some of Charleston’s most historic and picturesque neighborhoods
Four popular kayaking expeditions to area creeks and rivers.
The deadline for signing up for fall trips is July 23, 2022. Interested but not a SINHG member? Visit sinhg.org to learn about the benefits of membership and to join online.
The Seabrook Island Natural History Group (SINHG) has released its autumn schedule of SINHG Trips for members and Evening Programs for residents.
Among the 38 educational and cultural trips offered for members, starting in September, are several kayaking expeditions in the ACE Basin, a tour of historic Mount Pleasant on electric bicycles, a private tour of the H.L. Hunley Museum in Charleston, and three culinary tours of downtown Charleston restaurants.
Three Evening Programs for island residents at the Lake House are planned, starting in September with a presentation on the history of Charleston tea plantations, followed by an October program on the history of James Island and in November with a “Lost Charleston” program on the city’s post-Civil War history. Details and registration are available at sinhg.org.
